Perhaps your mother told you, “it doesn’t cost anything to be polite!” If she did, she was right! And this applies to live chat agents perhaps more than in any other role. 

In this course, we are going to dive deep into the world of live chat etiquette. But before we get into that, let’s clarify what we mean by etiquette. The dictionary definition is:

“the customary code of polite behavior in society or among members of a particular profession or group.”

In live chat, it means the rules that describe how you should interact with website visitors and customers.  In other words, it’s a manual of how to be polite in an online conversation. 

To put it simply, it’s all about friendly chatting. To achieve that, you need to follow basic chat rules, emphasize customer service manners and check your grammar and use of English. If you get this right, the customer will have a much better experience, which means a great outcome for everyone. 

Here are some examples of phrasing that will usually be considered good, positive chat etiquette:

On the other hand, poorly-considered phrasing can cause the conversation to go downhill. Examples of undesirable phrase choices include:

The way you speak to customers is important, but that’s just one element of good live chat etiquette. Other factors include:

So what is good live chat etiquette? In short, the essence of creating customer happiness and making people glad they contacted your organization. It’s the foundation of the live chat industry that everything else is built on. Remember that, and you will be on the road to greater success.